A Quiet Foray
by The Techies
Summary: Five years after leaving her to sort out his past by himself, Soundwave returns to Arcee, who is at a reunion with her teammates on earth. As the two begin an attempt to rekindle where their relationship left off, strange, sinister events begin to happen. All of the bots soon come to the realization that something - or someone - malevolent may be playing out in the background...
1. Chapter 1: The Team Begins to Reassemble

**This story is a sequel to _Silence is Gilded_**

* * *

Jack Darby opened the door, and entered the garage. While he no longer lived with her, for a short time he was staying with his mother, June Darby.

"So, what _are_ you doing with them, Jack?" June asked, following him into the open space that connected to her house. "You haven't really told me the bigger details."

"Like I said, it's just a little get-together," he replied with a smile, hopping onto the red bike he possessed as the garage door began to open in front of him. "I haven't seen Arcee, Bee, Smokescreen, Wheeljack, or Bulkhead for almost _six years_. It's going to be great to see them all again and spend the week with them."

"And talk about all the goings on that happened from then till now? That _does_ sound like quite the event," June agreed as she saw the bike start up; its engine letting out a vibrant purr. Another thought came to her mind upon seeing him activate his vehicle. "Say, have you ever thought about racing Arcee with that?"

"Yep, I've been thinking about it," he chuckled, as he put his black-colored helmet on over his head, muffling his voice slightly. "...But I've noticed that 'Cee goes _way_ faster than this thing. That doesn't mean I won't try it anyway!"

He began to let the motorcycle drift forward from the garage, toward the road, making sure to look back before he entered it. "See ya, Mom!" he said a last time with a wave.

"Stay safe, dear. Oh, and say hi to Ratchet and Arcee for me!" she bid farewell back, before watching him speed off. His bike let out a quick roar as it went onto the asphalt, soon disappearing from sight. June would have gone with him, but being a nurse, she had work to attend to in just an hour. Sighing, she returned back inside, letting the garage door slide shut behind her.

It was a few minutes before Jack exited the cozy town of New Jasper, and entered the stretch of highway that would eventually lead to the military base containing Hangar E; the Autobot's secret base on earth. Before he left, he had himself another good look at the rebuilt town, once devastated by the Decepticon fortress of Darkmount shortly before the Autobot-Decepticon war ended. The morning sun showed fully overhead, illuminating the wide, empty, sandy landscape in its warm, yellow glow.

Suddenly feeling a thick vibrating sensation that overtook the one of his vehicle, Jack stopped his bike with a screech of the wheels. The very ground below him seemed to be shaking softly as he registered what was happening. Then, just a few seconds after it had started, the tremors ceased, and all went still.

"An earthquake?" Jack said to himself. "Haven't felt one of those in a while. Weird." Activating the accelerator and revving the engine again, he sped forth once more, continuing his journey unhindered.

* * *

Pulling down on the lever, Ratchet looked up as the machine began to whir to life. With a green flash, the groundbridge came online, displaying a vaguely circular formation of energy. Waiting patiently nearby were the much smaller shapes of the humans Miko Nakadai, and Raf Esquivel. Neither of them could hide their smiles as the three shapes of Bulkhead, Smokescreen, and Wheeljack sauntered through the portal. Miko was the first to run up and greet them, head-on.

"Bulkhead!" she shouted with a natural vigor in her voice.

"Miko!" the burly wrecker shouted back, kneeling over and putting his closed hand out to her, allowing the human to fist bump it. "How've ya been?"

"Great!" she replied. "How's life on Cybertron been treating you?"

"Can't complain," he chuckled. "Everything is like how it was before the war, except with less tension between everyone."

"You've really got to take me there so I can see the sights one day, Bulk," she said again. "For now, let's go make up for lost time!"

"Wait, don't you think you'll want to stick around and greet Arcee and Bumblebee when they get here?" Raf asked.

"Pff... we're not going to be gone long. We can say hi later," she said to him, before looking to her considerably taller companion. "Bulkhead and I have a _lot_ of catching up to do!"

"That we do, Miko," he agreed with a nod of the head. "Wanna go do some off-roading?"

As Miko let out a cheer of assent and the two walked to the exit of the hangar, Wheeljack began to speak up.

"Hey, kid. You've grown since we last saw you," he said, noticing the fact after walking toward Rafael. "I can't wait to see the look on Bumblebee's face when Doc opens a portal up for him and Optimus."

"I know! I've grown over- wait... _who_ did you just say was coming with Bumblebee?" Raf asked, shifting his glasses to a better spot. Wheeljack glanced back over to him with a smirk.

"Optimus," he said again. "It's as much of a surprise to you as it is for us."

"But... I thought you said he sacrificed himself to restore the AllSpark to Cybertron," Raf spoke again, excited, but confused.

"He did," Ratchet continued, as he typed a set of keys in front of the computer; working to fix on a certain location. "But Bumblebee has told us in one of his more recent messages that Optimus trained in the Realm of the Primes with the other Primes, and they eventually forged a new body for him to use in the physical world. Among other things, of course."

"Wow," he gasped in awe. "So he's... really back?"

"You betcha," Smokescreen answered. "I haven't seen him yet myself, but judging from what Bee said, he's just like what he was before."

"Alright, everyone stand back. I'm calibrating Arcee's coordinates now," the aged medic said from where he stood, before placing his servo on a lever again.

* * *

Arcee was looking to the distance, watching as the city of Iacon resumed its quiet, tranquil peace.

As more time went by, Cybertron's reformed government had become much more stable than it was in its first year of running. More bots that left for the stars after the Great Exodus had returned home to the once-more inhabitable planet, the police force was now fully online and operational, and the need for random bots and hired bounty hunters looking to keep the peace had been rendered null.

With the familiar, electrical noise she knew well, the femme turned around and faced the green glow of the forming groundbridge she previously asked Ratchet to create at this location, in one of Iacon's parks.

"Well, here we go," she sighed, giving a cheerful look to Laserbeak, who hovered nearby, emitting his usual, constant, shrill drone. The loyal mini-con had been given to her as a parting gift by Soundwave almost five years previously, after the reformed Decepticon communications officer had decided to leave her side in order to settle his past elsewhere. As far as she knew, Ratchet back on earth was the only one to be aware of just how close of a relationship the two shared before he ultimately left.

Putting her head forward she began to walk into the portal, followed closely by Laserbeak, who flew by her side.


	2. Chapter 2: Aftershocks

"So... Soundwave _gave_ you his mini-con?" Smokescreen asked as he pointed to Laserbeak, who seemed to be eyeing the Autobot with its expressionless visor.

"Yes," Arcee replied, folding her arms.

"And then he... left?"

"Yep."

"Huh," he said again, scratching his head. "Even when he's not with the 'Cons anymore - as unrealistic as _that_ sounds - he's _still_ pretty strange."

"Yeah, but you have to admit, at least he befriended Arcee and turned over a new leaf," Raf brought up with a positive shrug.

"Hmph. "Befriended" is not the term I would use, intrinsically..." Ratchet mumbled in a barely-audible tone in the background, as he fidgeted with the groundbridge's controls some more.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Wheeljack, who leaned on a wall of the hangar nearby, inquired with a raised brow.

"Nothing," Arcee quickly responded for him. "Just that... we both had a bit of a rocky start, but by the time we parted, he had saved my life on more than one occasion, and I taught him a thing or two on how to be more independent."

"Ooh..." Wheeljack spoke again, intrigued. "Saved your life, hmm? In what way?"

"Am I missing something?" a familiar voice interrupted, much to Arcee's relief.

"Jack!" she smiled, spinning her head in the direction from whence the words came, spotting the human in question. "Good to see you again, partner. What things have you been getting into since we last had the chance to talk?"

"Well, I've stayed close to Fowler since you guys went back. After I survived college, I came back to him for job advice, and now I'm training to be in the air for-... gah..." he said, finishing with an uneasy tone upon catching sight of the approaching Laserbeak, who was creeping toward him at a slow, ominous rate. "Um... Arcee...?"

"Oh! Don't worry, I was just done explaining to the guys," she spoke, petting the drone-like Cybertronian with a servo. "He's with me."

"That's... Laserbeak, right?" he asked. "The same Laserbeak that Soundwave used before the war ended?"

"Correct," she sighed. "Lots of things happened while we apart Jack, to put it bluntly."

"And if I were to hazard a guess, would one of those things involve Soundwave getting out of the shadowzone, by any chance?"

"As a witness to her tale, it's a long story," Smokescreen chuckled. As he finished his sentence, the faint feeling of the floor beginning to rumble went out below their feet. It wasn't long before the tremors thankfully ceased, to all of their relief.

"Whoa. Did you feel that?" Raf asked.

"It must be an aftershock," Jack spoke. "I felt an earthquake when I was coming here. It wasn't very large though, thank goodness."

"Thank goodness indeed," Ratchet concurred. "If there's one thing I don't like about having a base in this area of the planet, it's all these blasted earthquakes it gets. Remember that one we had two years ago, Jack? The one with the magnitude that measured five-point-nine on the scale?"

"Hehe... yeah," he chuckled uneasily, rubbing his back in memory of the event.

"Ugh... I remember it," the old medic shuddered. "Half my equipment fell from where they rested on the counters, and the fluids they contained went everywhere... it was a mess. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought there was a driller burrowing under our feet."

"Driller? What's a driller?" Raf asked. Wheeljack let out a laugh, and stood up straight from where he was leaning.

"Just the biggest subterranean predators native to Cybertron," he began to explain, as the humans and other bots listened closely. "Over a thousand feet long and armed with multiple tentacles, each tipped with saw-like drills made to cut through Cybertron's crust, but could easily be used to rend through an average Cybertronian with a single swing. Ends in an enormous, circular maw that could swallow even someone Bulkhead's size whole, and is filled to the brim with more fangs than a family of sharkticons. If you actually _do_ get swallowed alive by one, it gets even better! Their digestive systems have a _whole_ cocktail of various poisons and venom designed to neutralize still-living prey, and acids to then break it down."

"Huh. You sure know your beasts, Wheeljack," Arcee remarked. The Wrecker smirked.

"Remember the stories Bulk and I told about our time in the Wreckers? Seaspray had a big grudge against the things after one of them took his leg," he spoke again, causing Smokescreen to eye his lower appendages with a gulp. "Heh. Ol' Barnacle Butt would always say how they were made by Primus with the specific directive to be the nastiest things on the planet."

As he went on to explain more about facing one of the creatures in an up-close encounter, Jack turned and walked up to Arcee. Seeing that he wanted to talk to her without disrupting what was currently going on, she bent over on a knee and let him speak.

"Hey, 'Cee. Wanna go for a drive?" he asked, motioning to the door.

"Oh boy, do I," she grinned. "Being busy with police work on Cybertron doesn't leave much time for joyrides."

"I actually managed to save up for a bike of my own, believe it or not" he said again. "Think you might wanna talk about how the last six years have treated us while we take a spin around the countryside together?"

"Sounds like a plan," she nodded. As the two quietly began to exit the hangar, Laserbeak took notice, and stealthily began to follow them out the door.

* * *

Soundwave walked his tall, thin, lanky-armed form through the compact hull of the small, one-bot spacecraft. The entire vessel, save for the quiet whirring of the machinery that ran the ship through the seemingly endless void, was entrapped in a cloud of still, blissful silence. It was in this silence that he was very busy thinking carefully about the near future.

He had spent the last five years traveling restlessly among the stars, searching without end for what he seeked. It was only now, with his quest finished at last that he was finally returning as he promised to Arcee, after what felt to him like a lifetime.

After receiving a secret transmission from Laserbeak stating that a gathering of Arcee's team was about to be held on earth, he had set the ship's coordinates to the planet he remembered with a mixture of fondness and enmity. As his ship continued to soar through space, his mind raced back to the femme that had left such a lasting impact on his life.

He still remembered the exact moment he decided to leave her as though it were still the freshest thing on his mind, as well as the entire week leading up to it in a photographic way. Every day he would think of her face. The brief moment of passion he shared with her. Her still body as she lied upon the hospital bed, recovering from the venom that had gotten into her system from the poisoned blades belonging to the Decepticon, Dead End. His final decision to go out on his own, and leave his mini-con behind with her.

As Soundwave's thoughts came to the present, his visor; identical to the one he had previously lost in his time with the Autobot, lit up with a picture of the blue planet he was traveling to. A message on the black-screened object informed him that his destination was close, and when he approached the approached the cockpit of the spacefaring craft and looked out of its front, he spotted the distant shape of the earth and its moon.

He would be there soon. All he would have to do to find Arcee would be to track down Laserbeak's life signal, then he would be reunited with her at last. He couldn't help but curl his fingers into a tightly-clenched fist in a mixture of anxiety and anticipation, displaying emotion as he so very rarely did.

Soon...


	3. Chapter 3: Catching Up

"So, you're part of the air force?" Arcee whistled in an impressed tone, as her motorcycle form raced directly beside Jack's on the tar road; her holographic driver cast over her seat to put off suspicion should another vehicle pass by.

"Hey, it's my calling," he replied. "What kind of things have _you_ been doing since Cybertron was restored? Ratchet's been telling me that you went into active police duty the minute they officially reinstated the force."

"I'm just one of the beat cops in Iacon, specifically its western sector," she spoke nonchalantly. "Sure there's crime there that needs busting, but I'm thinking about transferring somewhere where I've heard there's more action, like Kaon or Tarn."

"Beat cop?" Jack inquired. "I bet criminals wet themselves when they hear that a member of Team Prime is patrolling their area, much less when they find out she's on their tailpipes."

"I'm considered a war hero by most of the newer cadets, yeah, but I usually work alone on my assignments," she laughed lightly as she went on. "Laserbeak's been a big help with some of them. His reconnaissance is invaluable when I'm trying to look for wanted bots, or when I get trapped on stakeouts."

"Speaking of Laserbeak... why exactly did you start working with Soundwave?" he asked, looking up to the sky for a split second and spotting the mini-con that had been following them since they left the base.

"Oh, I... worked with him to find any renegade Decepticons that were threatening to unhinge Cybertron's peace," she started, as they passed by a sharp turn. "Being who he was when it came to monitoring others and looking for hidden things in general, I thought he was my best chance to find those kind of bots before something devastating could happen. I got permission from my superiors to allow him a chance to do it with me in exchange for a pardon, and we broke him out of the shadowzone."

"How well did it work?"

"He... escaped and subdued me on the first night after reactivating him..." Arcee slowly said.

" _What?!_ " Jack shouted in utter surprise, nearly stopping his bike in shock. "What happened after that?!"

"That's when it gets complicated. You see, my ship had the devices necessary to create a cortical psychic patch, and that's exactly what he ended up hooking me onto. He looked into my past in an effort to see what really happened to Megatron."

"And... when he did that, he... saw when you witnessed Megatron officially disband the Decepticons, I presume?"

"Bingo."

"Oh..." he spoke taking in a deep breath afterword. "What happened after that?"

"What can I say?" she sighed. "I woke up the next day and found him acting like he had lost the will to live. In the days following he began to open himself up more, especially after he took a blaster shot in the face for me. I got to know him better, he got to know me better, and by the time he left I had given him a new, much more individualistic outlook on life."

"So he befriended you, _and_ saved your life, after the trouble he put you through?" Jack smiled from behind his helmet. "Did anything else happen?"

"A... few things..." she said in what sounded like a purposefully ambiguous tone, only serving to provoke his interest.

"Like what?"

"Like... when he helped me get to the hospital for repairs after I got my arm cut off..." she began, thinking of the moment as she recited it. "And how he saved me again after he rescued me from a Decepticon when I had gotten stabbed in the back by a poisoned sword."

Her partner beamed at her. "He did that for you?"

Arcee wished she could nod, but instead she talked. "Yes, he did."

The next minute of driving was silent, save for the roaring engines of the two vehicles, and what little of the whir they could hear from Laserbeak above. It was broken as a wonderful thought entered Jack's mind.

"'Cee, do you think you might wanna just find a place to sit down and look over the land like we used to do?" he asked. "I know a good spot."

"That sounds nice," she remarked. "Where to?"

"It's a ledge I like to hang my legs over about three miles from here," he began. "I took Sierra there on a date once."

"Oh, so you're going out with Sierra now?" the two-wheeler asked, both intrigued, and teasingly. "When did this happen, I wonder?"

"A while ago, after I finally worked the courage up to ask her," he chuckled. "We've been going steady for almost four years now. To let you in on a little secret, I'm planning on proposing to her soon. I've just gotta find out the perfect way to do it..."

"Having someone to spend the rest of your life with is a big responsibility, Jack," she smiled. "...But one that's always worth it in the end, assuming you find the right person."

"C'mon. The place is this way," Jack spoke next, turning off the road to a dirt path. He was promptly followed by Arcee and the ever-looming form of Laserbeak.

* * *

The green flash of a groundbridge went out in the junkyard that Bumblebee and Optimus Prime stood in. Standing behind them were the rest of Bee's team: Sideswipe, Strongarm, Fixit, Windblade, and Drift. Grimlock was elsewhere, helping out Denny and Russel - the two humans that owned the place.

After nodding to Bumblebee, Optimus became the first to walk through the portal. Before going in himself, the yellow Autobot turned about to his allies, ready to issue his final command before leaving them for a brief time.

"Like I said before, I'll be gone for less than a week," he began. "And I've figured out who'll be in command while I'm gone..."

Sideswipe gave his usual cocky grin from he leaned on a nearby wall of wrecked vehicles, thinking of all the things he would do without Bee ordering him around and telling him not to get into arguments or fights with Strongarm. Strongarm herself shifted a glance in his direction and let out a puff of air before rolling her eyes, knowing _exactly_ what was on his mind.

"I'm placing Strongarm in charge in my stead," he finally said again, pointing to the cadet. As Strongarm unleashed a surprised, though not unhappy grin, Sideswipe's face went blank with fear and his arms unfolded from where they lied the moment he heard that. Bumblebee could see this as he continued, "I'll see you all-"

"No... no, Bee, you can't do this to me!" the red bot cried out, interrupting his leader as he jumped to the ground in front of him, kneeling in a groveling stance that conveyed nothing but pity. "Please, I'm begging you! Put... put Drift or Windblade in charge, or something like I thought you were about to do!"

"I already talked with them about it," Bumblebee said. "They both thought Strongarm would be best-suited until Optimus and I get back." Sideswipe glanced at the two he spoke of, looking at each of their smiling faces with an expression that showed nothing except how utterly and unforgivingly betrayed he felt.

"You heard him, Sideswipe," Strongarm spoke in what most of the Autobots there heard as a held-back, though still smug voice as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm in charge until Bumblebee gets back."

Bumblebee looked to the rest of his team with a confident glare after Sideswipe stood back up. "See you all soon, stay safe, and keep a lookout for any Decepticons," he bid farewell with a final wave, before he too turned around and ran through the portal, which closed behind him after he had disappeared into it, hoping with all his might that the two wouldn't have strangled each other when he got back.

* * *

 **Author's notes:** In case anyone was wondering, this story is supposed to take place right after season 1 of RID, and before season 2.


	4. Chapter 4: As Promised

Arcee and Jack sat on the end of the plateau, hanging they legs off of the edge as they felt the warm, midday sun shine over them. Laserbeak hovered in the air behind them facing the opposite direction, as if waiting for someone.

"So, about that proposition you want to give to Sierra..." the femme began, looking down to him as she broke the silence.

"Her birthday's coming up soon, and I thought about doing it then, but I think she would expect something like that," he chuckled, as he picked up a small nearby stone in his hand and tossed it off of the edge, listening as it fell from the cliffside they were upon. "I want to ask her at a time she least expects it, but in a good way."

"Well, you'd better do it soon," the Autobot laughed back. "You humans don't have the lifespans for patience of that caliber."

"Do... Cybertronians have anything similar to marriage?" he suddenly inquired. "I've never had the curiosity to ask before."

Arcee let loose a smile, taking a few seconds to think his question over. "We don't have marriage as one of our customs _per se_ , but we have something similar to it," she began to reply. "It's called "Conjunx Endura." It's when two Cybertronians fall in love, and decide they want to spend the rest of their lives together. If their love for one another is proven true when they perform the necessary rituals, their sparks will be bonded to one another."

"That sounds pretty intimate," Jack said in a quiet tone.

"It's not actually something that happens often, at least as far as I know," the two-wheeler continued, letting her body sway back a small ways and using her arms to balance herself. "When the war came around, most bots didn't have an interest nor the time to have such a relationship, though some found a way."

The sound of an aircraft streaking through the sky went overhead as she and Jack continued to look off into the distance. When it started to get louder and sound less like an airplane was when Arcee took a peek over her shoulder. A craft, one she soon recognized as being of non-human origin was speeding in their direction, and the moment she realized this, her visage tensed up accordingly.

"Jack, I think we've got company..." she spoke in a serious voice, standing up. The second her partner spun his head around and had a look at the ship himself, he stood up as well. The craft, by then, had switched to smaller thrusters that lined its bottom, indicating that it was landing.

"Stay behind me," Arcee ordered, activating her blasters as the ship gently made contact with the ground several dozen paces from them, scattering sand and rock while emitting a hissing noise as it seemingly powered down.

As the large door to the craft fell open with a quick whir of gears, and a single, long leg was seen stepping out. Laserbeak, instead of getting into combative position, flew over to it without hesitation. Arcee gave a confused look to the mini-con as she saw it get closer to the still-concealed figure, and then heard the smaller mech shift its T-cog; transforming and merging with the being. When the figure fully revealed itself, now with Laserbeak reattached to his chest, Arcee's face went blank with surprise and her arms lowered as she uttered the mech's name.

"Soundwave?"

Soundwave instantly looked to her; his black, featureless visor reflecting her surprised expression. Slowly, she put her blasters away, and the two just looked at each other in pure silence as Jack stepped out from behind his friend.

"Soundwave?" he also asked. "What do you think he's doing here?"

Arcee was silent. Without a word, she began to walk forward until she was just in front of the Decepticon. "You've been gone a while," she finally spoke, in a softer voice. Soundwave lowered his head away in what appeared to be a guilty expression, before nodding. Looking up to her, Jack could see that Arcee was smiling warmly, before her face went more neutral, and her brow curled.

"What _are_ you doing here?" she asked, repeating Jack's words while placing a servo on her hip. Soundwave didn't speak, and instead quietly lifted his hand to point at himself, and then to her.

"Are you saying that you're "coming back to me," like you said you were going to?" she inquired once more, upon reading the gesture. He nodded quickly in confirmation, provoking Arcee to turn from him and walk away a few meters.

"Well... I guess it's good to see you again," the femme said next, though in what sounded like a frustrated sigh. She looked to Jack as he passed by.

"Jack, I'm going back to base. The team needs to know of his arrival... in person."

"Um... okay?" was all he was able to respond with, when she transformed with a shift of her T-cog, and drove off with a roar of her engine; kicking up a thick cloud of sand and dust in her haste to drive off of the plateau. It was when she was gone from sight that Jack turned to Soundwave.

As he continued to look up at the silent Cybertronian, Soundwave looked back down to him in reply. Scratching the back of his neck at the sheer awkwardness he felt in this situation, Jack let out a small whistle.

"So, Soundwave... sorry for helping to trap you in the shadowzone," he spoke. "No hard feelings about that... right?"

Soundwave just glared at him with his faceless expression in reply. " _No hard feelings,_ " he suddenly repeated, using Jack's recorded voice. Staring at his ship, a symbol formed on his visor, and upon triggering it the ship was cloaked; turning fully transparent in a matter of seconds. After that was done he faced upward and jumped into the air, transforming himself into his alternate, MQ-9 Reaper drone form, and bursting off into the sky in pursuit of the Autobot.

After he had left, Jack exhaled the air he was just realizing he was holding in his lungs. "Well, that happened," he spoke to himself. Noticing that his bike was nearby, he began to walk to it and mounted the now dust-covered vehicle. After wiping some of the sand off of it and turning it on, he drove off after his friend.


	5. Chapter 5: Together Once More

Arcee sped forward along the road as fast as she could go; the boisterous noise her engine made suiting the current emotion she felt very well. And that current emotion was nothing but pure, unadulterated frustration.

Upon making a glance into her rear view mirrors a few minutes into her ride, she saw the soaring shape of Soundwave gaining on her, lowering his altitude the closer his aerodynamic shape got to her. Eventually, after a few moments longer of driving, Arcee stopped in her tacks and transformed before facing Soundwave's direction. The Decepticon proceeded to shift into his true form as well and landed in front of her, kicking up a small, barely-noticeable cloud of sand and dirt.

For a short time, the two just stared at one another. As Arcee's glaring face was reflected like a mirror from his visor, Soundwave suddenly spoke.

"Arcee," he said in his true, deep, guttural voice. "You seem very... vexed. Are you not happy to see me?"

"Soundwave... I'm glad to see you again. Downright ecstatic. But I'm just so... _angry_ at you at the same time," she replied, brushing her forehead with back of her servo. "You left me without even having the gall to tell me in person. And that was five years ago. _Five years ago_."

"I have completed the mission I set out to perform," he said again, placing a servo on his mask. With a slight popping noise his visor came off in it, revealing his thin, silver face, and piercing, purple optics as he lowered his arm. "And now that it has been accomplished, I have returned to you once again as I promised I would."

"What was this mission, anyway?" Arcee asked, placing a servo on her hip as she stared up, into his eyes.

"I was scouring the galaxy for Megatron," he responded. "And when I discovered him in the far reaches of unknown space, I told him of what had transpired in my life since we last met. He gave me his blessing to do what _I_ wish now and become my own master. The minute his words were spoken, I came back for you."

"You disappeared from my life for five years... just to have some idle conversation with Megatron?" the femme inquired, her tone rising and brow lowering.

"I wanted a final confirmation from him that the Decepticon's ideals were no longer something he believed in."

"What happened to the talk I gave you about being your bot back on Cybertron? Did that mean nothing to you?"

"It was because of your teachings that I searched for Megatron to begin with," he said back, his voice's pitch not moving an inch. "It was because of _you_ that I resolved to fully cleanse my past of what I was and start anew. It was because of _you_ , Arcee, that I am here with you now, and will be so forevermore from this second forward."

An interval of silence came between the two. As Arcee turned her head away and folded her arms, she broke it with a sigh. "At least you're back now, I guess."

"I will not leave you this time," Soundwave went on. "I want to remain by your side once again, for as long as you will it. My last question is what will you have me do now?"

"Hmm. Considering your question with a very open mind... I might as well let you give your salutations to my team, seeing's how you're not going anywhere for a while," the two-wheeler said again, with a dry smile. Soundwave expressed a small, but very happy grin of his own, before placing his visor over his face once more.

"Your team... do they know?" he inquired, as the black glass sealed onto where it was put, obscuring his features.

"Know what?" Arcee asked back, before realizing what he was saying. "Oh... _that_. Only Ratchet knows. He's been kind enough not to tell anybody of what happened between us."

"That is good to know," he spoke, letting out a silent breath of relief. No sooner had he said that, the new sound of a motorcycle motor went out behind him. Turning his head over his shoulder, he could see it was Jack riding toward the two on his own vehicle.

"I know Jack and his two friends were the one responsible for trapping you in the shadowzone," the Autobot mentioned anxiously upon seeing him as well, looking to the ground and twisting the sole of her foot through the dirt below with a rough grating noise. "Are you still mad about it?"

"Do not worry about that," Soundwave responded, easily, refocusing his sight on the femme. "Had they not defeated me, things would have turned out much differently for you and I, and that is something I'm glad did not come to pass."

* * *

Arcee, Soundwave, and Jack had arrived at the military base together a small time after the conversation the former two shared. Upon getting close to the closed hangar, the three could hear voices coming from the other side, clearly loud and happy.

"Now remember, they don't know you're here," Arcee spoke to Soundwave. "Odds are, they might be a little quick to the trigger when they see you. Just don't do anything that will rile them up, and they'll welcome you like family. Got it?"

Soundwave briefly raised a hand, indicating that he understood. Turning back to the door with a deep and somewhat edgy exhalation of breath, Arcee lifted it open, and the they walked in, spotting each present Autobot there, as well as Raf. The commotion caused by entering the place caused Wheeljack - the closest to the door - to look to the three.

"Good to see you're back, 'Cee. Bee and Optimus jus-" he started to say, before shock entered his voice, lifting himself from the wall he was currently leaning on in the process. "Wait... _Soundwave?"_

"Soundwave?" Bumblebee and Smokescreen also said, spinning about at the same time. As the rest of the Autobots in the room turned from what they were doing and looked with startled expressions, Jack, from where he was walking beside Arcee, was instead gawking at the large red-and-blue mech that he expected would be the last thing he would see today.

"Well, um... Soundwave... it's nice to... finally be able to give my thanks to the bot that I heard did some good deeds for a friend," Bumblebee began before any others could start, stepping forward as he talked. "Depending on if you came here to stay... welcome to Team Prime."

Soundwave made no attempt to reply in words, and instead tipped his head forward in a small nod. Smokescreen, Wheeljack, and Raf followed in Bumblebee's example as Ratchet, from where he stood behind the freshly-deactivated groundbridge, only looked on.

His face bore a wry expression as he watched the others have their turn saying something to the Decepticon and Arcee, the ones the former of whom received were mostly either questions or words of gratitude for what they heard he did in the past. The aged medic was so busy at looking at the Soundwave that he didn't notice who was walking up behind him.

"Does something trouble you, old friend?" Optimus asked in his typical, venerable tone, placing a servo on Ratchet's shoulder.

"Oh, no. Nothing's troubling me, Optimus," he replied, though his look only changed a small bit. "I'm just... surprised that someone like him just came out of the blue, that's all."

"As am I," the Prime spoke. "I may not have encountered Soundwave since the final fight aboard the _Nemesis_ , but I do have faith that his outlook on everything has changed. And judging from what I have heard, we have Arcee to thank for his turn in views."

"Among other things..." Ratchet remarked to himself, before coughing into his servo and resuming his work. Turning about upon seeing a familiar, small shape approach, Optimus caught sight of Jack slowly walking up to him.

"It's nice to see you again, Optimus," he couldn't help but smile. "It... _is_ you, right? I'm not hallucinating?"

"It is indeed I," he replied, kneeling down upon one knee to get a better look at the human. "It is a long story to tell about how I have returned to physical being, but it is one I'm sure you would enjoy hearing."

"You bet I would," Jack agreed, before shifting a small glance back to Arcee and Soundwave.


	6. Chapter 6: A Moment of Bliss

Night had descended over this section of the earth like a blanket. While the Autobots said their farewells to their human allies for the night back at the military base, Soundwave had silently slipped away from their sight, and returned to his cloaked ship in order to make sure it was safely disguised and undisturbed. When that was over with, he simply stood over the cliff and looked up to the glittering sky.

He had spent much time journeying among the stars, to the point that he was more than used to roaming its cold darkness. The endless void that was outer space had left more than a profound effect on him in the time that he had traveled to find Megatron alone, without even Laserbeak to keep him company. The thought of seeing Arcee again was what really kept himself spurred on and hellbent to finish what he promised he would finish. And now that it was done - that it was _finally_ done - he was free to do as he wanted.

As he was entrapped by his many thoughts, he didn't seem to hear the resonant noise of a motorcycle engine coming up from behind him, nor the sound of a T-cog activating. It was only after he heard the sound of metal footsteps and a familiar voice that he knew there was someone nearing his position.

"Hey, Soundwave," Arcee greeted as she came up to him, announcing her presence. "I thought I'd find you back here."

He looked back at her over his shoulder briefly, before looking over the cliff again. Activating Laserbeak, the mini-con jumped from his chest and into the air, and soared away from the two; disappearing into the night sky and leaving them alone.

"It's a lovely night out, wouldn't you say?" she said again, approaching the mech until she was also overlooking the rock face just a few meters away, her arms folded.

"Yes, it is," he finally replied. "Lovely, peaceful, beautiful, alluring... just like a certain blue Autobot I know of."

"Your flattery is quite charming," she smirked, glancing in his direction. Things went quiet for a small time as Soundwave thought of what to say next, hoping not to mess anything up.

"Arcee," he began to speak to her in a near-silent voice, fully turning to the two-wheeler. "I do not mean to be so direct, but do you still... harbor the same, intimate feelings for me as I do for you? Even after the time we spent apart?"

Arcee didn't respond for a good few seconds, and looked to the still-rising moon before sighing. "Yes, Soundwave," she slowly replied, looking back to him. "I do. Don't get me wrong, I'm still unfathomably cross with you for what you did five years back, but yes. I still feel that way." Though she could not see his face, Arcee knew that he was smiling at her.

"Now that I am yours once more, what will you have of me now?" he decided to ask next.

"What an interesting question that is. Hmmm..." she wondered aloud in a hum, stroking her chrome chin as she began to step toward him in a slow, and clearly flirty fashion. "What _will_ I do with you? When we get back to Cybertron, perhaps you may want to sign up with the police force like I did."

"I would gladly serve in enforcing Cybertron's law by your side," the mech mentioned.

"Heh. If that does come to pass, you do realize we might have to do something about your current symbol," the Autobot chuckled upon reaching Soundwave, motioning to the insignia of the Decepticons on his shoulder by shifting a quick look at it. Reaching one hand up, she gently used it to curl her fingers around his visor and pull it off, revealing his face to her once more as she lowered it by her side.

"I can change it. But since we are not going to return to Cybertron for a short time, what do you propose should happen until then?" he inquired again.

"Well... I guess the first thing I'll do is this," she whispered to him softheartedly, putting her free hand on the side of his head, and guiding his face down to hers. Closing her eyes, she placed a kiss on his lips. Positioning one servo on her shoulder, and another just above her hip, Soundwave carefully pulled her slightly smaller form closer to his own taller one in return, and kissed back.

As their osculating became something more intense and amorous, Arcee's grip on Soundwave's visor lessened, and she let the black slab of glass and metal fall softly into the sand below. They backed up until they had impacted against the cloaked hull of Soundwave's ship, and resumed the moment unimpeded, and with a fiery passion.

They remained locked together in their utter bliss for a time; enough so that their air vents began to overheat from lack of proper respiratory circulation. Finally, though seemingly reluctantly, the two broke off from their exchange and began to swallow deep breaths of air.

"I've waited... five years for that... you know," Arcee panted with an ecstatic smile, as the two butted their foreheads together and stared directly into each other's optics. Soundwave began to respond with a similar euphoric expression.

"I have, too." As he spoke, their lips grew close once more, to point that they were practically touching again. "Are you still cross with me, Arcee?"

She couldn't help but smirk at his question, knowing the inevitable fact that this moment of peace their mouths were currently experiencing would be broken in the next few seconds. "I'm absolutely livid."

And with that, they resumed their activity under the glimmering sheen of moonlight, though with a much more gentle, held-back, and less immodest nature than before, focused more on savoring the delicate moment they were sharing together than anything else.


	7. Chapter 7: Tremors

Jack had left the house on his motorcycle again no sooner than the sun had risen. Once he left New Jasper, he took in the serene landscape with a lightened gaze. Though balmy air surrounded him and the sun shined over his back and warmed his body, he was tempted to just raise his visor and feel the cool air from just riding his motorcycle forward.

A sudden feeling of rapid shaking overtaking the ground, no different than what he felt the day previously, suddenly quaked below his vehicle and himself and caused it to shudder terribly. Thoroughly perplexed by this happening a second time as he rode his motorcycle, as if he was having a bout of déjà vu, Jack stopped his bike and waited for the random tremors to subside once more.

Nothing seemed to happen for a few seconds afterword. Then without warning, what felt and sounded like an explosion went out from beneath his bike and himself. Before he could so much as shout in surprise or look around, he was flung several yards from his vehicle like a ragdoll, and his helmeted head impacted against a rock with a loud crunch and used a great enough force to knock several shards from the brown boulder, as well as dent his protective headwear immensely.

And then everything went black.

* * *

Soundwave was the first to awaken as he recognized the sun's warm mid-morning rays wash over his body. Looking down to his left in a slow motion, he saw Arcee was still beside him and inactive, resting her hand and head against his chest as her eyes remained closed. They had both fallen asleep sitting below a large, vaguely cone-shaped rock that jutted up from the ground, only a few dozen feet from his ship and the plateau's edge.

Just feeling her touch and seeing her looking so peacefully nestled against him gave his spark a warm feeling, and he exhaled a deep breath. She was everything he ever wanted. Everything he ever would want.

It wasn't long after Soundwave regained consciousness that the femme herself began to stir. Shaking her head slightly, her eyelids slowly blinked open and revealed their light blue glow. Lifting her head up, Arcee's eyes searched around and found themselves staring into Soundwave's own purple ones as they peered down from above her.

"Good morning," the Decepticon bid, softly.

"Ugh... morning," she greeted back in a tired tone, sluggishly wiping a hand over her face with a servo before smiling. "How're you?"

"Content," he answered. "One of several emotions I experience when I'm by your side, feeling your touch."

She smirked, raising her head slightly and planting a small peck on his lips. "It sounds like you're gonna enjoy getting used to it, 'Wave."

"That was a wonderful night we both shared," he said next.

"And without Ratchet, or any other bot around to spoil it? You bet," she chuckled. Before they could reminisce further on their romantic evening, Arcee felt her com go off, signalling an incoming call just before a voice spoke it.

" _Hello? Arcee, are you there?_ " the voice, which she instantly realized belonged to Jack, asked. Placing a finger to it, she began to answer back.

"Uh... yeah. Yeah, I'm here, Jack. Something you need?"

" _Ratchet told me you guys were the closest to my position, and I... kinda need your help with something,_ " the human went on. It was at this moment Arcee noticed he sounded out of breath, piquing her curiosity.

"Help with what?" the two-wheeler inquired, slowly leaving Soundwave and standing up.

" _Um... well, it's... it's not good, to put it lightly..._ "

"What happened?" she asked again. The beginning of the response she received was a small, but clearly troubled chuckle.

" _I think you're going to want to see it for yourself..._ " he finished in an ominous tone. Arcee sighed.

"Alright, I have your position. Hold tight, and I'll be right there," were her final words before she took her hand off of her com. She gave Soundwave a small grin before speaking to him.

"Jack says he's in a bit of trouble. By the sound of it, I think he busted something. Probably his motorcycle, if I were to wager anything," she told him, stretching out her left arm out over her head as she did so. "Wanna come with me?"

"Of course," he responded as he finished standing up, walking over and picking his visor up from the ground nearby. "Do you know where he is?"

"Yep. I have his coordinates," she nodded, watching the lean mech as he put it on, concealing his face. "He's on the road a short distance from here."

* * *

"That's a sinkhole, alright," Bulkhead said as he stared down the deep pit in front of him and the other seven that were also looking down it, to the fresh dirt and rock that lied at its bottom. "And thank Primus you didn't fall in there, Jack. You could've broken some things."

"If you ask me, it looks like it connected to a... _tunnel_ of sorts that's been caved in," Smokescreen pointed out. "I'm just asking this because I still don't know everything about how the earth itself works, but does your planet's earthquakes do things like this to the terrain?"

"No, they don't," Raf replied. "This is very odd. It doesn't match anything that could have been caused by natural geological phenomena. What could have done something like this?"

"Like I said; I was driving along the road when I felt another earthquake happen. Then the ground below me seemed to explode, and threw me at least two dozen feet clear, knocking me out as I landed. When I came to, there was a giant hole near me, and my bike was gone," Jack sighed. "I didn't see it at the bottom of the hole. It's as if it vanished."

"The hole ate your bike?" Miko asked in a semi-horrified voice, taking a closer look into the otherwise empty pit once she heard what her friend said. "Ooh, man. Your mom's gonna have a hard time believing that, Jack."

"Tell me about it..." he groaned, looking to Arcee and Soundwave. "'Cee, do you have any idea at what might have caused it?"

"Not the foggiest. Sorry," she apologized. Soundwave shook his head as well when Arcee glanced his way.

Bumblebee, on the other hand, walked past the others and to an area where there was still tar road, though the asphalt was greatly torn in what appeared to be a neat, single line leading to the hole. Getting down on one knee, he ran his hand over its coarse surface. "Hey, guys. I found something," he spoke, gaining everyone's attention. One-by-one, each walked over and examined them alongside the yellow bot.

"Definitely not caused by rubble," Smokescreen pointed out. "And even if it was rubble... where's what caused it?"

"Wait, there's a piece of my bike!" Jack exclaimed, reaching a hand down near the tip of the skid marks, and picking up a small piece of metal he recognized was a circuit breaker; somehow thrown loose of his vehicle. "Why on earth is it over here? My bike was over the hole when I got thrown off."

"If it got shot up the same way as you, I'm sure there'd be more pieces," Miko noted, as she looked at the item herself. "And why is it in the path of the torn-up tar? It's almost as if it was dropped from part of the bike if it got... dragged across the road by something."

"It might just be because of the tale Wheeljack told us yesterday, but could it have been a driller, by chance?" Bumblee asked again.

"A driller?" Bulkhead questioned with a disbelieving laugh. "You must be lobbing with the Fallen to think a beast like that's the culprit behind all this. I've seen them in action, Bee. The only time they ever surface is when they hear food, and they don't leave anything in their wake when their done; metal, organic, or otherwise. You're proof of that, right Jack?"

"Bulkhead, remember, I _did_ lob with the Fallen; lobbing being the operative term..." Bumblebee interjected before the human could respond to Bulkhead.

"Even so," Arcee started as she came between them, "what would a driller, of all things, be doing on _this_ planet, much less be roving around here in the desert of Nevada?"


	8. Chapter 8: What Lurks in the Distance

Shockblast was a bot with many strange qualities. Despite her female designation, her purple-and-steel form looked practically genderless; bearing a lean body in the midsection and lower, and large, blocky shoulders, as well as long, drooping arms that each ended with five fingers of a claw-like nature. Her head was of an almost blank appearance with something similar to silvery horns jutting up from either parts of it. The only facial features she _did_ have was a small, sunken-in, round, red eye with a constantly dilating black pupil in its center.

Only five years ago she had been created, and it was after the emotionless machine of pure logic and science that was Shockwave accidentally came into physical contact with a young spark he happened upon, freshly birthed by the Well of AllSparks. He ended up imprinting upon the yet-to-be-born Cybertronian's unstable mass by doing so. Instead of being allowed to grow naturally into her own bot like most sparklings would, Shockblast, as Shockwave christened her, was constructed into an adult frame that had an eerie likeness to him in mind, body, and passion toward the field of science.

Being a bot wanted for numerous, perverse war crimes, no short amount of blame being focused on his inhumane experiments during the war, Shockwave saw usage in his newest creation and sent her out into the galaxy to explore, catalog, and experiment on the universe while he hid and performed his own work in the shadows. And that's how she was now in this lab, on earth.

Shockblast loomed over the motorcycle that was on the examination table in front of her. It was taken from a random, lone human not five hours ago. The current activity she was performing with it was one she loved to do as much as her creator.

Running experiments.

"Test number forty-one, commence," she spoke in her typical dull, monotonous, robotic voice. Right afterword, a blue, holographic beam scanned over the earth vehicle from front to back, and vanished once its work was done. No sooner had it disappeared, one of the computer screens nearby began to display the information the Decepticon sought in the rather primitive method of transportation. She went to it and looked over her findings with an intense interest, perching a servo on her chin.

Her head suddenly turned from her work the second she heard a shrill beeping sound go out, and Shockblast gazed in its direction. The radar, mounted on a nearby monitor, had made the noise. It did so upon detecting a Cybertronian life signature rapidly approaching the entrance of the base, presented in the shape of a blipping, white dot moving at a fast speed. Stopping her work almost immediately, Shockblast quickly left her lab and ventured through the cave system to the makeshift base's front, fearing, though disbelieving, that it was an invader.

Upon looking outside, the bot was met with a cloudless blue sky, until a small helicopter of a white and medium brown color came into sight; resembling a human-made Kaman K-MAX, to be precise. Hanging a fair length below it appeared to be a thick, cord-like rope, and at its base, being carried by the helicopter through the air, was a net full of items that were too far to properly identify.

Descending at a fast rate, the helicopter landed on the ground a few yards in front of Shockblast, scattering sand and rock as its propellers spun, soon coming to a slow halt. With a T-cog shift, its parts and plates began to move around and shift to different positions until a new shape was created, showing its true nature as not being anything human-made at all. As a pair of arms and legs formed, as well as a head bearing two silvery, metal protrusions on its cheeks and a single spike-like crest on its forehead, each of the duel propellers it possessed folded in half and shifted over the bot's back, making them vaguely resemble insectile wings.

When the Cybertronian's transformation was complete, the bot was revealed to be a fairly small femme. She looked exceptionally young, having been naturally created shortly before the war officially ended, being only less than two decades of age in earth-time. She was, ironically enough, older than Shockblast herself despite the physical and mental differences they each had. Her most distinguishing feature by far was not her age however, but a black, metal eyepatch she wore, bolted over her missing right optic. The other, remaining one was of a vivid blue color, and looked as though it was full of vigorous energy. Picking her bag up, she proceeded to stride over to the cave's entrance, humming to herself.

"Mayfly, where were you?" a rather commanding female voice suddenly spoke up from behind Shockblast in a stern tone one would probably mistake for an angered parent. Turning her head only slightly, she saw the dark-colored, much more feminine form of one of her other fellow Decepticons here on earth, Airachnid; one talon-like servo placed on her side as her six, thin appendages hung over her back; currently not being put to use doing heinous deeds. Looking back at the bot who's name had been spoken, Shockblast noticed her carefree expression went blank with surprise.

"Oh! Airachnid, I was just... flying around," Mayfly responded somewhat shakily, stopping in her tracks.

"You were only allowed to be gone for one hour. It's been almost two," she went on, approaching the young bot before noticing what she had. "What do you have in your hands?"

"Oh, um... well, you know me, heheh..." the young one-eyed bot chuckled nervously in reply to the taller femme, bobbing up-and-down on her heels at the realization that she had been caught. Picking up her arm and revealing the cargo she was carrying in the net-bag she held, she placed it in front of the spider-like being, who's purple-eyed visage remained in a stony frown that shot daggers. "I just pilfered some human stuff. Again. But don't worry, ma'am, it's just some more music CD's, and videogames, and-"

"You told Dead End that you were just going to practice flying in your alt-mode. _Not_ raid a human's establishments for that junk." Airachnid's interruption sounded like a sudden crack of an energy whip, snapping Mayfly out of her speech with her scolding tone.

"And I was," she instantly replied. "I just... happened to pass by one of their game stores. And it was _closed_ , believe it or not."

"Mayfly, what have we told you about doing things like that? You could've been spotted. That would ruin everything! _Everything_ ," the older Decepticon groaned, pinching the bridge between her eyes.

"But I wasn't spotted..." she pouted in a voice that sounded more like a hammy expression of sarcasm than a serious or pleading whine. "Since I got away clean, can I at least play them? _Please?_ "

Airachnid's face remained with her lowered brow of anger for a few seconds, but she eventually and relented. "Feed Shockblast's pet, and then go and train with your weapons for the rest of the afternoon first," she finally said, prompting Mayfly to let out a small cheer of victory.

"Yay! Thank you, Airachnid!" Mayfly said, expressing her gratitude through a brief, but no less large hug around the waist that caught the black-colored Arachnicon off-guard, before picking her loot up and absconding with it into the cave.

Shockblast, who had been watching the affair before her, simply looked at Airachnid with her small, red eye; its pupil dilating. When Airachnid noticed, she stared back in a glare.

"Why in Primus does she play and listen to that scrap?" she asked.

"From what I have observed, humans made these devices to appeal to their inner desires; be it specialized in music, art, gaming, or so on," Shockblast began in her emotionless voice. "In tests I have run, I have compared the average mental capacity and rationality drives of a typical Cybertronian with human's cerebral and psychological functions. My findings discerned that certain Cybertronians with similar mindsets, typically younger, "fresher" ones such as Mayfly, have a chance to fall under their addictive influences."

She placed her hands on hips and looked in the direction the young bot took. "Or, perhaps Mayfly just has the urge to immerse herself in human technology and pop culture. I've noticed she has grown quite fond of their inventions and activities."

Airachnid sighed, before a devious smile that exposed her sharp canines came upon her face. "Despite her adolescent and naive nature, I see a lot of myself in that young bot, Shockblast. Whenever she finds herself in a situation involving the need for combat, no matter how big or small it is, it's where she snaps. It's where here _true_ self comes out of its shell and is set upon the fearful world. It's where her urge to inflict as much pain as possible to her enemies is given into completely, and I know she revels in it. I feel proud to have the chance to mold her into a hardened killer like I. Have I ever told you that before?"

Uncaring for a response from her fellow Decepticon, Airachnid began to stroll back into the cave before she could receive one, leaving Shockblast alone with her thoughts. Every time Shockblast saw her, she couldn't help but think back to how she first became acquainted with such a strange bot who's passion for causing death and suffering was her most defining attribute.

Airachnid was once infected with a horrific, dark energon-based disease that left her as a monstrous creature who's only desire was to feed on the energon of any in her path. The group of insecticons she was accompanied with during her imprisonment on one of Cybertron's moons were each fed upon by her, one-by-one, until only she remained. The rest soon died off and deactivated permanently from lack of sustenance and care.

As Shockwave had said, Airachnid was the only one left alive on the natural satellite, and by the time he made his timely arrival to it, she had just enough sense in her sickened head to allow him to capture her. When the mech did manage to cure her a short time later, her physical state was left much weaker than before, which Shockwave stated would most likely be permanent. And that's when Airachnid got the nefarious idea to train a young hopeful like Mayfly in the art of hunting and murdering others for personal pleasure. A short time after beginning her search for a successor, Mayfly was found scrounging desperately, but stubbornly for life by her lone self on a hostile, and nearly lifeless death world that was sitting in the further fringes of Cybertron's solar system.

In the twisted Arachnicon's eyes, Mayfly would eventually become a fitting replacement to plague the universe in her stead, now that her own ability to hunt the strongest creatures and Autobots by herself for sport may very well be at an end. It was a task the predatory Decepticon took to spark, and the training she bestowed upon Mayfly had taken a quite impressive turn, in terms of her skills and instinct.

Also, in return for saving her from a most awful fate, Airachnid made a deal with Shockwave to ferry Shockblast around the galaxy. They had visited many planets so far, but currently they were on earth, in a newly set-up lab located in a mountain range within the human state known as Nevada, as per the Arachnicon's request.

Upon leaving her thoughts and reentering the cave, Shockblast returned to her lab, only to see the significantly more masculine form of another Decepticon, Dead End, inspecting it. His bulky shape possessed a venomously green-and-black coloration that matched his disturbing, secretive personality. He was a character Airachnid had allowed to join them in traveling solely because their interests aligned fluently. Like her, he had a deadly grudge to settle with a few bots; one in particular being the Autobot Wheeljack, who's outward appearance was much too similar to Dead End's to be purely coincidence.

The mech was looking over the bike with a lively gleam in his otherwise dead, orange eyes. Hearing a barely-noticeable footstep approach from behind, he slowly turned until he saw Shockblast.

"Shockblast, where did you acquire this?" he asked her curiously; his mouthless voice resembling the low hiss of a snake.

Her response was an immediate; "A road two-point-four miles from here. It was taken from a human, but it was knocked unconscious after emergence."

"And you're sure he saw nothing?"

"Yes."

"Good," he said, before changing the subject. "Judging from your log, you sure have been running a lot of experiments and tests on this primitive contraption."

She nodded her head. "They are my last ones before I move on to studying the humans themselves. I will leave to find my first live subject by tomorrow."

"When you do go out, be wary of Autobots and do not attempt to capture humans you suspect may be associates of them. We are still on their territory," he reminded. "The former may have arrived on this rock very recently, but it is not time to make our move on them yet."

"I shall be wary, Dead End," she answered reassuringly, as he began to walk out. "And should I happen to run into them, despite how astronomical the odds are of having such an encounter are, I have a most valuable method of protection..."


	9. Chapter 9: Shockwave's Revenge

Jack, a tired look adorning his face, exited from the house and walked into the garage after saying goodbye to his mother. He let out a sigh once he looked to his helmet resting idly on a workbench; a large dent adorning its surface. Since June was getting taken to work by a friend, he got permission to use her car to get to the base, and eyed the old vehicle with a nostalgic glare.

After the door finished sliding open to allow him to leave, he blinked in surprise when he saw a blue motorcycle sitting outside, parked in the driveway.

"Get on," Arcee said without hesitation. "We're going for a ride."

"Arcee..." Jack started, placing his hands in his coat's pockets. "It's fine. I don't need to burden you like this."

"Oh, c'mon," she beckoned with a chuckle, turning her front wheel to-and-fro as she spoke. "It'll be just like old times."

Upon hearing her words, Jack quickly relented with a grin. "Alright, alright," he smiled. Snatching his helmet off of the nearby bench, he fitted on the concealing, protective headgear and jumped onto her seat after making sure the garage door was closed again.

"All set?" she asked. Jack lowered his visor and gave a thumbs-up.

"All set!" he confirmed. With a revving engine, Arcee sped out of the driveway at a fast pace. She shifted to her top speed once they left town and both experienced the cool feeling of the wind whistling by them at its full force.

Five minutes into their joyride, Jack decided to strike up a conversation. "Ratchet told me that you were out with Soundwave for the whole night, the day before yesterday," he spoke. "If you don't mind me asking, what were you two doing?"

"We just talked," she replied, reciting the three words she was preparing herself to say for such an occasion. "Ya'know. Caught up on what happened while each of us were apart. Turns out, it was... a lot."

"It's really nice to know how close you two have become," he said again. "I mean, just think about it. He's _Soundwave._ The Decepticon we all once remembered as being nothing more than silent, menacing, and evil. I still can't believe how you convinced him to change like that."

"Yeah, neither do I..." Arcee sighed, her thoughts drawn to him. Her mind shifted back to reality as she suddenly realized the first part of what her companion said. "Wait, what do you mean by 'close'?"

"Um... just that you two became such good friends," the human said. "Ratchet told me how he saved your life back on Cybertron, and judging from how much time you've spent with him since he got back already, you're both still on really good grounds with each other."

"Oh, okay. Good," she spoke. The moment she finished the final syllable of her word, a faint, but noticeable vibrating feeling went out through the tar ground, and the two-wheeler was the first to notice it once it quickly gained in magnitude.

"A-Arcee?" Jack asked in a worried manner the second he felt the disturbance.

"Scrap-" was all the disguised femme was able to mutter, before the inevitable happened. With what sounded like a bomb going off, the the ground practically exploded from right beneath the two, and earth was thrown into the air like a geyser. Arcee spiraled away before she could even transform, while Jack was flung a short distance forward with a long-drawn cry. He landed onto the ground with a crunch of disturbed dirt from the impact, but was otherwise unharmed.

As he sat up and looked into the dirt cloud that hovered over where he and Arcee just were, a glowing, red light emerged through the haze of sand and dust, reeking malevolence with its very appearance. When the cloud parted, a tall Cybertronian; one with a thin and lanky, and partially blocky and thick shape, stood there. It looked directly at Jack in motionless silence; the eye dilating several times as it focused on his shape, and his alone.

"Greetings, insect," it spoke in a vaguely female, and highly robotized voice. With but two steps the Cybertronian was upon Jack, and she scooped his greatly smaller form off of the ground in her left servo before he could stand up and flee, grabbing him in a tight grip. Despite how much he fought back against it, the being effortlessly brought him up to her 'face', if what was made up of a single eye could even be called that.

"I recognize you. You're the human male I encountered last time. You shall be my first human test subject," she said upon examining him. "A prime age, a fit build, a healthy appearance... I predict that your dissection will yield interesting results."

"Wha- _dissection?!_ " Jack shouted, panic coming into his tone.

" _Not if I have anything to say about it!_ " The relieving sound of Arcee's voice was more like an aggressive roar, and what followed it was an arm blade that cut through the air from behind the Cybertronian, slicing into the bot's arm with a single, powerful swing. The arm carrying Jack was severed from the elbow with that single blow, and crashed to the ground below; the fact that he was still in its grasp leaving him unharmed.

Pulling himself free from the enclosed, but also now-limp fingers, Jack could only watch as Arcee began to pummel his attempted abductor. This strange bot; a Decepticon, as seen by the symbol on her chest, stood a pathetic match for Arcee, and could only try, and fail, to dodge Arcee's attacks or return them with slow, flailing limbs; one of which was now missing. Arcee continued her assault, punching, kicking, and slashing until a final swing sent the bot staggering back.

Arcee changed her arms into blasters and focused them on the femme opposite to her, causing her enemy to refrain from doing anything else offensive. "Don't move," she commanded, as a question was already primed to be asked. "You certainly look a lot like a bot I know. Who are you?"

The Cybertronian whom she spoke to clutched her new wound. "I am Shockblast, and that is all I will tell."

"I'm sure there's more than that..." Arcee growled back.

Shockblast went eerily silent, before she lifted her only remaining, whole arm up, and pointed a claw at Arcee. "Revenge," she said, causing the Autobot to raise an eyebrow in confusion. "Sic."

As soon as she said that, a deep quaking beneath where the three stood began again. Jack began to back up a fair ways, thinking something big was coming their way. His fears were recognized, as something rapidly emerged from the ground nearby with a wretched, inhuman scream and crunch of dirt that fell into and was minced in its mouth, revealing a long, thick, silver shape.

The closest thing Jack could compare the titanic creature to was a giant metal worm with a head consisting of nothing more than a gigantic maw covered in sharp, razor-edged teeth. Several serrated, saw-tipped tentacles poked out of its side and one was already heading Arcee's way like a whip. Arcee lifted her arms and blocked it on her blades, but the sheer force pushed her back several dozen meters from Shockblast. The beast let out a roar as it came between Shockblast and Arcee; its multiple plated joints twisting and turning like a drill as it crawled to the greatly smaller Autobot.

The tentacles swung about wildly, upturning the _terra firma_ they emerged from and splitting any rocks in its path in twain as if they were naught but wet paper; all as its enormous head raised and focused on its newest prey, but Arcee managed to avoid every attack. But then, with another thrust at her, it finally managed to score a hit that grazed off of Arcee's upper, left thigh; its razors effortlessly sawing through the metal leg and inflicting a moderately deep wound in the black-tinted appendage. Unfazed, Arcee continued to nimbly dodge the other limbs, or deflect any dirt and rock it threw at her. After just barely avoiding a swing from the side, she slashed a blade downward and hit the appendage directly where its natural weapon and tentacle connected, slicing though soft metal and wire and causing the creature to let out a long, angered whine and squeal, before retracting the half-severed limb.

In a pained reaction it dove underneath the terrain before emerging behind Arcee like some twisted parody of a blooming flower, and pulled each of its limbs back, rearing up over the ground like a snake which allowed its shadow to overtake the Autobot. Arcee tensed her body, knowing the driller was about to bring the full force of its greatly wider mass down at her all at once in what would be an attempt to crush her, but instead of readying herself to dodge, a new shape emerged out of the corner of the Autobot's eye and caused her blue optics to gaze upward.

"Soundwave," she breathed with a smile, witnessing the sight of his transformed state fell from the cloudless sky.

Dive-bombing the driller, unleashing several rounds of red blaster shots all the while, Soundwave gained the attention of the creature, which seemed unaffected by the beams that impacted against its thick hide. Revenge turned its eyeless head to him just in time to witness him transform in mid-flight and land a powerful kick in the side of its face, right next to its circular, razor-filled maw. The force induced by the sheer momentum of it sent it off-balance and lurching to the side, but only slightly. Once it regained its composure several seconds later, it bellowed and began to focus on the newest threat with its several sets of teeth spinning about inside its wretched maw; creating a deafening buzzing noise.

Soundwave had landed on the ground by the time the driller began its recovery, and walked backwards to Arcee, who's entire expression lightened up upon seeing him. She drew her blasters out again and pointed the two weapons at Revenge as her partner was by her side, looking to her.

"Its plating looks thick, but if I focus fire on it I should be able to weaken it," she whispered to him, both watching as the creature finished recuperating and let out a thoroughly enraged scream. "That's how we can take it down. I'll keep fire on its face, and you keep the tentacles off of me. Go for their joints, if you can."

Soundwave nodded in understanding and curled his long fingers into fists. With the sound of Arcee opening fire, the battle resumed.

"You still attack my driller, though you must know you have no chance of defeating it?" Shockblast asked, as she held the grip of her remaining hand over the leaking stump of her arm, watching them attack her pet in the ultimate display of what one would see as a match between David and Goliath. "Your choices are most illogical. Revenge, destroy them, but focus on the femme first."

The driller obeyed like a loyal dog, and returned its complete focus to Arcee. But with every attack the driller attempted to make toward Arcee with its rending appendages, Soundwave would move to them and hit each away with a quick backstroke of his arm, allowing her to shoot at its neck and head with unhindered accuracy. By continuing with this method of attack, several of its protective metal plates were soon unhinged and shot off, falling to the ground below like stones and exposing the now-defenseless wiring and circuitry within. To Shockblast's surprise, she noticed the favor would soon turn to the Autobots if she did nothing. That's when she knew what pragmatic action had to be done next.

" _Revenge!_ "

The sound of Shockblast's voice cut through the air like a knife. Without any sight of hesitation whatsoever, the driller suddenly stopped its current attack and turned to her, slamming all of its limbs to the ground in unison with a thunderous crash and sending up a thick cloud of dust and dirt that caused Arcee to stop her attack. With a quick pace, it abandoned its prey under the makeshift cover and slithered over the ground to its master at an incredible speed that betrayed its size, scattering sand and rock as it made a snaking trail.

"Let us retreat," she spoke next, looking down to her injured limb. With her words, the driller began to wrap around Shockblast's dwarfish form, protecting her from anything that had the potential to head her way. Shifting its bodily plates around, a compartment in the beast's very form opened, and the bot slipped inside after giving one last look at Soundwave and Arcee. After the plates shifted back into place, the driller let out another scream and dove into the ground behind it as if it were a fish to water; the rest of its extremely lengthy, thousand foot-long mass following it under the earth and vanishing from sight.

Cautiously watching the freshly-dug hole, Arcee, Soundwave, and Jack stood quietly and let two minutes of still silence follow, fearing that the being would resurface. When it was fully blatant that it was gone for good, Soundwave was the first to act. He walked to Arcee and immediately stared at the deep graze that adorned her thigh. Looking down at it, then back up to her, the Decepticon's view was held in frozen silence, as if desperately asking ' _are you okay?_ '

"I'm fine," she affirmed before he could find a way to actually speak his mind, flashing a comforting smile. "It's just a scrape. Thanks for the assist, by the way."

The Autobot turned to Jack, who was just taking his helmet off, revealing a paled and very adrenalized face, still attempting to process what he witnessed. "Well, at least I know the real fate of my bike," he said, quietly laughing upon taking in a deep breath. "But... I don't think my insurance covers attacks by... whatever _that_ was."

" _That_ , Jack, was a driller," Arcee said, walking up to him, before shooting a worried glance at the hole. "And what we just saw is a big, _big_ problem."


	10. Chapter 10: A Tough Question

_With a clatter of its footsteps, a knight dressed in thick silver plate armor wandered through the bleak, stony landscape that was a desolate castle. Rounding every corner with caution, it readied its sword for a fight. That fight came sooner than expected, as a giant, lizard-like creature bearing scales of a sable complexion suddenly emerged from behind a trail of columns, and let out a gurgle as it spotted the knight through the multiple marble pillars._

 _The beast charged, breaking through the constructions as if they were made of porcelain, and slammed its head down with a ferocity to rival an earthquake in action. Dodging the blow with a roll, the knight stood up behind its foe with great speed and struck at its hind quarters twice, causing it to roar in an enraged manner. It spun around, sending its tail out like a whip in an effort to hit the knight, but the brave character was faster._

 _However, as it rolled to avoid the attack, the knight found itself teetering on the edge of a ravine as it regained its footing, and shifted a quick peek down at the darkness lying at its bottom. The monster suddenly charged again before the knight could properly react, and its flat nose hit off its armor with a crunch, throwing the poor fool down into the abyss below. As it fell to its doom, the knight let out a scream of fear, vanishing into the muddled void._

"Nuts!" Mayfly shouted in a frustrated voice, tossing her controller to the metal floor of her room. As the prominent, and somehow taunting words ' _YOU DIED_ ' came onto the computer screen ahead of her, she pursed her lips as she entered deep thought before getting up from the ground to retrieve the device.

"Human games are hard..." the young femme sighed to herself, plopping herself back down. As she was about to press the button that would allow her to continue, the sound of footsteps - slow, sluggish, clanking footsteps - began to go out from the other side of her door. Curious, she placed her controller aside, stood up again, and went to it. Reaching a servo over and pressing a button on the door's panel, it slid open and she peered outside, spotting the shape of Shockblast wandering past.

"Good to see you're back. Something the matter?" Mayfly asked, running up beside her.

"My identity has been compromised..." Shockblast replied, continuing to walk forward without looking behind her. It was at this moment the young bot noticed Shockblast's missing appendage, and she let out a gasp of horror.

"Oh, Primus... what happened to your arm?"

"I stumbled upon a pair of Autobots, who then attacked me," Shockblast said in as blunt of a tone as possible. "I was wounded in the process."

"A-are you okay?"

"I am functional. I must repair my arm, though," her friend deadpanned. "Please Mayfly, leave me until I have completed that task. I apologize, but I do not wish to be bothered as of right now."

She wandered off further while Mayfly stopped and stood there alone with her thoughts. A look of concern mixed with shock was spread across her face, and the amount of anxiety she felt for her friend was so great that she did not notice the taller, dark shape coming upon her from behind. Though not expecting it, Mayfly didn't jump as she felt a clawed hand touch her shoulder, and the young femme turned her head to see the taller, and much darker shape of Airachnid standing next to her.

"Does something trouble you, my dear?" her mentor asked in a rarely-used tone of worry over someone else.

"It's Shockblast," she responded. "She said she was discovered by the Autobots and they... cut her arm off."

"Yes, I saw that," the Arachnicon sighed. "I know how close you are to Shockblast, so I can only imagine how you must feel."

The sleek Decepticon started to walk off a fair ways before stopping in her tracks and loudly exclaiming something. "Oh, I almost forgot! This reminds me of something fairly important."

Mayfly placed her hands on her hips. "Reminds you of what, ma'am?"

Her elder turned back to Mayfly and smiled. "Mayfly, I need you to go out and do something for me," she began. "You might be on your own for a day or two, but I have the utmost faith that you can carry out what I have planned; just so long as you follow my words to the letter."

The young femme gave an interested look, and raised the brow over her only remaining optic. "Does it also involve me getting some alone time with the bots that did that to Shockblast?" she asked. Airachnid let out a small titter.

"Yes, it most certainly does, my dear little assassin."

"Good." Mayfly let a hate-filled grin come over her face, and her blue eye flashed red. "Good."

* * *

When Arcee, Jack, and Soundwave returned to the hangar, the story they brought with them caused a great many looks of disbelief to come across their friends' faces. With no sign of argument against it, a patrol was set up that night to scour the nearby area for more activity, and Arcee and Soundwave were the first to volunteer on it.

As Arcee drove along the road at her top speed, Soundwave took to the sky and examined all that went on below and above, but neither reported anything of suspicion. Things were quiet between the two for the duration of their patrol, but eventually Arcee decided to break it.

"Say... Soundwave," the two-wheeler asked into her com in an effort to strike up a conversation, having grown tired of the silence she had been hearing for the last two hours and knowing their shift was reaching its end. "Have you ever encountered a driller before today?"

" _Actually, I have,_ " he replied on his end of the com, and in a way that amusingly told Arcee he was about relay a small story about himself. " _When I was a gladiator in the pits of Kaon, I was forced to fight many creatures, and drillers were among them. However, all the ones I faced off against and dismantled were paltry compared to the size of the one we witnessed today._ "

"Well, I'm still glad that experience came in handy when you helped me fight it." Arcee gave off a small chuckle, flashes of the intense moment still floating around in her mind. Seconds passed before she voiced . "I'm nearing your position now." She made a final turn that lead to where she would meet Soundwave, and there he soon was.

The tall, slender bot stood on the road with his visor off and in his hand, staring out into the countryside. "Everything's quiet from what I've seen," Arcee stated, transforming into her true form and walking up to him in the process. She reached his side soon enough, looking up to him as his view was kept ahead of himself. "Are you ready to head back?"

Soundwave was silent. Normally, Arcee would probably consider this nothing out of the ordinary with him, but there was something in it that bode a bit too... _off_ for her. "'Wave... you okay?" she inquired, taking a step toward him. He mouthed a silent sigh.

"Arcee," he finally, and quietly said, looking to her. "May I ask you something? A question both of us would find to be... very intimate?"

"Yes," she said with nothing short of confidence in her tone, doing so with a sharp and sure nod. Soundwave smiled to her, before opening his mouth and letting a smaller, more personal sound entered his voice, turning it almost fragile.

"Arcee, would you... would you do me the honor of becoming my Conjunx Endura?"

Arcee's expression turned from what it was and went almost blank with shock, despite the softness he used in his pitch. "I... Soundwave..." she tried to say, rendered speechless by his completely unexpected inquiry.

"You know about the four ceremonial acts that must be done as part of the 'Conjunx Ritus', correct?" he then asked, going on. "Three of the four ritualistic acts have been completed so far by us. The 'Act of Intimacy' was performed when we shared our first kiss. We completed 'Act of Disclosure' when you talked to me about your life and how you managed to get through it until now, as well as when we discussed my own. I accomplished the 'Act of Profference' when I gave Laserbeak to you as a parting gift, and so did you when you showed me there was more to life after I had nearly given up on it. All that must be done to make it complete is the-"

"The 'Act of Devotion'," Arcee finished, looking away and to the night-covered landscape before them with a sideways glance. "I... know as a fact that you did that when you saved my spark from Dead End back on Cybertron. But I..."

"You may not have done what truly classifies as it yet, but as you're probably thinking, we have only been together for a very short time," Soundwave said back. "And an act of devotion can be nearly anything, so long as it is a demonstration of your love."

The femme slowly spun around and looked back at him, a look of pure conflict etched over her steel face. "Soundwave, I love you with _every_ fiber of my spark. But... but the Conjunx Endura? Just talking about is... Well, it feels _too soon._ "

"Yes, yes I... know that," he agreed in a regretful tone. "It's just that... nearly every thought that enveloped my mind in the time I spent away from you was solely about _you_ , and what would happen between us after I came back, as I have now. I couldn't contain myself with the question, and seeing that driller made me realize how short life can become for us at a moment's notice. I _had_ to find out what you yourself thought of such a thing. I am sorry I asked you about it, Arcee."

"Don't be," Arcee said as she grabbed ahold of one of his servos, barely keeping herself from making it sound like a sudden sputter, smiling at him all the while. "Let me think on it for a little while, Soundwave. If I come to the conclusion that it really is a proper time, then I'll find a way to complete the Act of Devotion. If I decide it's a bit too soon than what I think is proper, then we'll just wait until my mind thinks otherwise. Okay?"

Soundwave gave an understanding look as he placed his visor back on. With his other hand free, he joined the other in holding his beloved's hand. "You're the only bot I'll ever want to be with, Arcee. I can wait for however long you feel is comfortable."

"I know," she grinned. For the longest time a pair like them could hope to experience, they simply stood there with their hands held together and their sparks shining warm within their bodies, until they both decided it was proper to let the other go. Walking past him and getting onto a better part of the road, Arcee gave Soundwave a playful bump to his side with her shoulder as she moved, motioning for him to follow. "Let's head back before the others think we're late and cause Ratchet to throw a fit over it. It's almost Wheeljack and Bulkhead's turn to patrol the area."


	11. Chapter 11: The Words of a Prime

Mayfly soared through the afternoon air in her helicopter form, scanning the dirty ground below for any sign of Autobot life. She had been gone long enough to redub her search for just life in general, considering the lack of it she spied. Nothing but sand, rock, a shrub-or-two, and the asphalt of the highway was all that befell her sight.

As she flew, her bored thoughts soon turned to the only subject she could think of; the bots back at the hidden base. In the brief few years she knew them, Airachnid, Shockblast, and Dead End were each as much like a family to her as Mayfly could picture.

Dead End was a peculiar bot. Sure, he was a good teacher when it came to lessons in offense and how to use weapons, but he had such an obsession with a Cybertronian named 'Wheeljack'. Every time she asked him about who he was, Dead End only responded with how Wheeljack was his 'prey', and wouldn't explain much else.

Shockblast was greatly less odd than he was, but no more strange. Due to the occurrence that made Shockblast actually _younger_ than she was (and in no small part to the fact that they both coincidentally had single eyes), Mayfly tried her hardest to become the near-emotionless scientist's friend, and would always revel with joy if she was in the mood to humor her after an attention-grabbing act.

Lastly, but most definitely not least, came Airachnid. The Arachnicon was the one who rescued her from the near-barren, beast-riddled deathworld she had spent nearly all of the beginning of her life attempting to survive on through any means necessary, and showed her what the rest of the galaxy was like. Mayfly held nothing but respect, admiration, and adoration for her. Had it not been for Airachnid, she would have never seen another Cybertronian. She would have never known how to speak, read and write, or learned of her kind's history.

And, perhaps most importantly, she would have never found out just how pleasurable it is to take another's life.

Snapping out of her reverie in an instant, Mayfly only just then started to realize that the innate detection systems she possessed had been going off in her head. Focusing on it, it directed her to something on the ground. Looking downward, all the disguised Cybertronian could see was a seemingly empty plateau, very much like all the others she saw so far in her travel.

 _Well, what's this?_ she wondered to herself, knowing very well that her sensors weren't glitching out. Quickly, but cautiously descending from the sky, Mayfly landed on the plateau in a careful maneuver, her spinning propellers scattering all kinds of sand until they began to slow down to a grinding halt. When she was absolutely sure that there was nobody around to witness her, she transformed from her alternate shape into her real form, and looked around.

Her detection system was going wild, and it was telling her she was right in front of what it discovered. Walking up to where she had detected the anomaly, Mayfly slowly stretched a hand out, only to feel something very solid grace the surface of her palm, truly surprising her the moment it made contact.

"A cloaking device? Neato!" she exclaimed in an excited tone. She continued to place her hands all over the object, feeling around for something she could use to possibly deactivate the cloak. However, all Mayfly found out as she did so was that the thing was mostly smooth, and very, very big.

"If it's this big, I'll bet there's a door of some sort on it. Door, door, door... come out, door..." she mumbled to herself. "C'mon... where are you, you little- ah! There you are!"

Her hand locked onto what she clearly noticed was a handle. After a few more seconds of searching in an attempt to find another, she located it and pulled on them, opening what she soon realized really was a door with a tug. As soon as the release gave out and the entrance formed, the entire cloaking field surrounding what she now knew was a small spaceship dissipated. She let out a gasp of wonder and awe at its impressive silvery size, and then began bouncing giddily on the balls of her heels as she saw what manner of technology lied within, whirring with a newfound life at being reactivated.

"Hmm... As long as it coincides with Airachnid's plans, then I _suppose_ snooping around in here for anything that might help me find those bots would count as just that..." she giggled childishly as she took her first steps into the spacefaring vessel, rubbing her small metal hands together vigorously with glee. "And if I so happen to come across something of other value, then I'm sure she wouldn't mind if I swiped them for myself. Hehehe..."

* * *

As the sun beat down on her from above and the rest of her team was elsewhere, Arcee stood alone at the end of the base, arms folded, and looking off into the distance with an empty glimmer in her eyes. The Autobot had tried her best to act normal through the day, but she found, to her great vexation, that she simply could not. There was too much on her mind to think about after the events of the night before, and to just pass it off and behave casually in front of her friends and teammates was a feat she discovered to be utterly impossible.

How ironic, she mused in a melancholy manner, that she had the luck to speak of what Conjunx Endura was to Jack a few days ago, only for Soundwave to bring it up so very shortly afterword. In truth, Arcee meant what she said when she stated her love for Soundwave, but to actually _bond_ her spark with his? The very notion of it brought upon an alien feeling that left her with an addled mind and knotted stomach she was utterly unprepared for. Her spark ached with an intensity she had never before experienced, and there seemed to be nothing that could nullify the sensation.

Arcee was so enamored with answering the question to her plight that she didn't hear the sound of heavy footsteps approaching her from behind until they were upon her. Finally noticing the noise as it stopped, she partially turned her head to see the blue-and-red shape of Optimus Prime standing next to her.

"Hey, Optimus," she greeted halfheartedly, returning her field of view back to the cloud-covered, blue-hued horizon. "Something you need?"

"Arcee, you have been out here for some time," he stated in a concerned voice. "Does something trouble you?"

"No. Well... yes, but..." she let out a small sigh, looking to her leader with an unsure expression, before turning away again. "I... can't tell you."

"You are conflicted about your personal feelings for Soundwave, aren't you?"

Arcee shot her gaze back at the Prime the moment she registered his words. Jaw hung slightly agape and eyes widened, she made no sound for several seconds in her shock that he knew so much. "How did you know that?" she finally asked, still holding her expression of surprise. "Ratchet told you, didn't he?"

Optimus shook his head. "No, he did not tell me anything. By looking into your eyes I could see what conundrum you were going through. And considering how much time you've insisted on spending with Soundwave recently, I didn't come by much trouble in determining who it was toward."

"And you knew what I was feeling... _how_ , exactly?"

"Because I have also felt the unforgettable experience known only as love. I, too, once had someone whom I shared an intimate relationship with," Optimus replied, briefly shifting his view to the sun above as he reminisced on his past. His lips curled upward, always seeing this particular recollection with immense fondness. "Her name is Elita One, and she was one of the most fearless and clever warriors I have ever met. We were separated after the Great Exodus took place, and I know not where she disappeared to following that chaotic event, but I feel she is alive in my spark. Somewhere far away, but alive and functioning."

Keeping his smile, he cast his view back onto Arcee. "I first encountered her when I was still known as Orion Pax. We were close, and yet, I did not know how to express what I felt toward her at first. But from the moment I did, and up until the war came, we were almost never apart from one another."

Arcee heard him clearly and with great interest, and it only fueled the bonfire of confusion within her. "Optimus..." she started again, a meager few moments after he had finished his story. "The problem is that I'm just not sure if... Soundwave is really the one who I want to spend the rest of my life with. I know he's saved my spark on more than one occasion, and even admitted that he loves me and never wants to abandon my side, but I just don't know if I let him come into my life like this because I _truly_ love him back, or if... I think he's _replacing_ what Cliff and Tailgate were to me."

She turned her head away as a twisted look of frustration overcame her face. She clutched at the side of her head with a hand, their fingers dragging over her helm. "Ugh! Just using that word makes me feel like I'm _trampling_ over their memories! Over _everything_ they were to me!"

Optimus grunted in understanding, closing his blue eyes for a few seconds as he thought over her words. "It is not hard to imagine why you think this way. You have endured much more than any deserve. It is beyond comprehension to think of a Cybertronian who has not lost something of value to the war."

He continued after a small pause, "Yes, Cliffjumper and Tailgate were of irreplaceable importance, but I believe that what you see in Soundwave is not a subconscious illusion, nor wanton desire, but endearment and passion. As much pure endearment and passion as what you felt for them, and perhaps even more so. Arcee, no matter what you may think, always know that it is _never_ wrong to move on and find one who possesses the capacity to make you happy again. To find one who you can share your love with, especially after a time of loss."

"But I want an answer more than anything else," Arcee said back. "The more I try to figure out why my spark feels this way - why it _yearns_ for him - the more my head gets tangled and clouded in static."

Another smile found its way onto Optimus' typically emotionless face, much smaller than the one from before but still bearing all of its power. "Love in and of itself is an emotion with many meanings, and each can be muddled, confusing, or even nonsensical at times. But when you find the right person whom you want to share your love with, your spark will always know if what you feel for them is genuine before your mind does," the Prime said in the voice Arcee had long attributed to wisdom itself. "And if you have the luck to find such an individual, whoever they might be, together you can bring sense and harmony to its meaning."

Upon letting a few seconds roll by, taking in what Optimus had said, Arcee couldn't help but roll her eyes and loose a comforted smirk. "I don't think even a Prime like you could come up with something _that_ philosophical on the spot," she laughed lightly. "Where'd you hear it from?"

"It is a quote from my teacher, Alpha Trion," he replied. "It was what he told me when I asked him about my feelings for Elita One. Though I cannot say I was once in the same position as you, my reception and reaction was quite similar, and the outcome of putting his words to motion had one of the greatest impacts on my life."

"Thank you for the insight, Optimus," Arcee said in a more positive tone. Her legs began to take several slow steps backward, already knowing where she wanted to go next. "If you'll excuse me, I think I have some business to attend to. If Jack or the others ask, just say I'm out on patrol, will you?"

"I shall," he concurred. With a final smile, Arcee fully gleefully spun around and morphed into her alternate form with a shift of her T-cog. She drove off with a roar of her engine, passing through the front gates of the air force base in seconds. Happy and content the advice he had given to his smaller, stalwart friend, Optimus began to return to the hangar.

* * *

Far past the nearest road, and many miles away from the base, Soundwave sat upon a large, flat rock that looked over a small cliff - if the ditch-like gully it was could even be referred to as such. With his head arched and looking over the small ravine, he tried to process some of the more current events that he had done, mostly lamenting on the mistakes he made during them.

He felt foolish for what he asked of Arcee the night before, and spent most of this day just trying to rid the memory from his head by patrolling the countryside. However, for the last hour he ceased this activity, and instead took time contemplating how he could attempt to remedy the this situation. To compensate for his absence he sent Laserbeak out in his stead, allowing his minicon to leave his chest and get a chance to stretch its wings in the process.

Now, he simply sat in the middle of Nevada's Great Basin Desert, with the rocks and boulders surrounding him acting as his only company, hoping the quietness of the countryside could help sooth and clear his mind. His head suddenly lifted though, as a hum began interrupt the near-silence. Standing, he turned around and saw a cloud of sand in the distance, and when it got bigger and closer, he saw a familiar blue motorcycle speeding in front it.

He waited as Arcee approached, and when she was close enough, the two-wheeler transformed into her real from and walked the rest of the way to him. After the two traded a glance at one another, the Autobot looked as though she was about to speak, when Soundwave went first.

"Arcee... I have been thinking deeply about it, and I wish to apologize again for what I said last night," he spoke in a voice full of regret. "I was acting selfish and impatient. I let my own desire get in the way of yours, and I should have waited longer to ask you. We haven't even had all that much time to get to reknow each other again."

"Oh, don't be so dramatic," she smiled back in an easy, playful gesture. "I can understand why you said it. You yourself told me that being with me was all you ever thought of while we were apart. It must have been torture for you to be alone for that long."

"And it was torture upon reflecting what hefty subject I imposed on you," Soundwave sighed back. Arcee simply let out a small laugh.

"Listen. I've been thinking about it too, and it's all fine," she reassured. "So don't fret over it, 'Wave. You didn't do anything wrong, and you know it."

"I am... relieved that you think this way," he breathed happily, before an odd expression came over his face from behind his visor. "But... I have a suspicion that this isn't the main reason you came out here to see me."

Arcee looked away and took in a deep breath, and then exhaled deeply before looking back at him, confident with what she was going to say next. "Soundwave, it's about my answer to what you brought up last night. I just wanted to tell you that I-"

Arcee found herself interrupted as the screen that made up Soundwave's visor lit up with a bright, rapidly-pulsating blue line that made a small, but shrill noise every time it flashed over the screen's surface, not unlike that of a siren. Soundwave quickly set to figuring out what was wrong, turning his head away from her to focus on what was happening, and the line disappeared and noise soon went silent as a result.

"Is something wrong?" Arcee asked. Soundwave looked back to her and nodded urgently.

"My ship... someone has entered it and tripped the secret alarm."

Arcee's eyes widened in concern. "Could it be a human?" she inquired. Soundwave shook his head.

"No... my readings told me it has been opened, and only a Cybertronian could accomplish such a feat."

"Then what are we waiting for?" she started in an eager tone, clearly readying herself to by the way she took several steps backwards. "Let's go see who's in gotten in it before they decide to take it for a joyride."

Nodding again, Soundwave watched as Arcee shifted into her alternate form and drove off with a roar as the hologram of her false human rider appeared. Already following in her example, Soundwave jumped into the air and morphed into his drone form, rocketing upward with a thrust from his engine.


End file.
